Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Kansas: Phill Kline appoints special prosecutor to go after George Tiller

By Diane Silver

This is getting weirder and weirder. Does outgoing Attorney General Phill Kline really care about pursuing his anti-abortion agenda or is he starting a vendetta against Paul Morrison, the Democrat who defeated him in November?

The news: Just hours before a 2 p.m. hearing on whether he has jurisdiction to file misdemeanor charges against Dr. George Tiller, Kline appointed a special prosecutor whose claim to fame is yelling about Morrison. AP reports:

Kline chose Wichita attorney Don McKinney, a Democrat and brother of House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg, as special prosecutor. Kline saidhe chose Don McKinney because he's a well-respected attorney and a Democrat.

During Kline's campaign against Morrison, McKinney castigated a newspaper for not aggressively investigating 15-year-old, unproven allegations of sexual harassment against Morrison.

Those allegations were thrown out of court. Kline's mud slinging so angered Kansans that it might have helped defeat him. The choice of McKinney, a Democrat, looks good on the surface, but McKinney endorsed Kline during the campaign. His interest in flinging mud at Morrison makes it look like Kline's choice has more to do with personal anger than prosecuting Tiller.